The CB meets face to face only once per year (during the ESA Annual Meeting -- this year's meeting is in Austin, TX Nov 10-13), but holds three more meetings via conference call once a quarter. Below are the highlights from the June meeting, some of which we'll expand upon in coming posts.
Changes for ACEs:
The ACE committee, under the CB, proposed the following changes to the ACE program. All were adopted by the CB and will be implemented in the coming months.
1) An "ACE Award" will be developed and implemented in 2014.This award will be for ACEs who have been certified as ACEs for at least three years, can document extraordinary service to the pest management industry, and can document in an essay how they have increased professionalism in the industry.
2) ACE renewals will move from an annual basis to a tri-annual basis. In other words, ACEs will not have to renew every year. They will renew every three years. During that time they will be required to maintain state licensure. Those who apply for ACE certification will --upon passing their exam -- be ACE-certified for up to three years as well.
3) Phasing in during 2014, ACEs will be required to document continued education with their application and renewal by submitting a minimum of 18 CEUs with their paperwork.
4) Starting in 2014, ESA will debut a category of ACE-Emeritus for those who have been ACEs for at least 7 years and have since retired from professional service.
5) If an ACE applicant has earned a bachelor's degree in entomology (or a related life science) they can cut the experiential requirement for ACE certification. Under current rules a person must have a minimum of seven years' experience to qualify for ACE. If they also have an entomology degree, a minimum of 3 years' experience will qualify.
Changes for BCEs:
1) Starting in 2014 ESA is going to change the procedure for BCEs renewing and documenting their CEUs earned. Current rules state that a BCE must submit a report showing CEUs earned every three years. A $25/members and $50/non-members fee accompanies the report.
- Starting on Jan 1, 2014, the following changes are enacted:If a CEU report is filed on time (by March 15th) and in electronic format (MS Word, PDF, MS Excel) then there is to be no filing fee owed or collected.
- If the CEU report is filed after the deadline (March 16th forward) and/or is submitted in paper format, then the fee will increase to $30/ESA members and $60/non-ESA members.
2) In 1993 the CB changed the rules so that all BCEs who retired from active service to the industry but still wanted to maintain their certification would be known as BCE-Retired. Heretofore, they were called BCE-Emeritus. Starting immediately, ESA is going to revert to the term BCE-Emeritus to better denote the professionalism inherent in BCE certification.
